[Country Business Reports interviews and articles by Discovery Reports www.discoveryreports.com]

The fastest sports cars, biggest trucks and greenest electric vehicles are racing towards a common goal: reducing weight to hit the steep fuel economy and emission targets the industry has set for the automotive future.

Driving this revolution is the increasing use of advanced plastics, which not only reduce weight, but also perform better over their metal counterparts in terms of corrosion resistance, flexibility, safety, comfort, economy and recyclability.

“Plastics contribute to nearly every facet of automotive innovation – from design to acceleration, handling, braking, fuel efficiency and safety,” says Pierre Boulet, CEO of complete automotive plastics solutions provider Novares Group. “Novares helps improve not only the performance of vehicles, but also the lives of passengers and drivers.”

Using advanced plastics injection technologies, Novares designs, creates and produces highly engineered, pragmatic components and systems that have complex functions and mechanisms, use kinematics and mechatronics, and provide integration expertise for modules. Among its biggest breakthroughs is its 100 per cent plastic heat exchanger, which efficiently replaces conventional aluminium alloy models while integrating more easily into engine parts.

Reflecting the industry’s fast-paced development, Novares rebranded from Mecaplast-Key Plastics on September 19, 2017 to mark the company’s pursuit of bigger ambitions that focus on value creation, technical products, innovation and global expansion. Paris-headquartered Novares Group runs 42 manufacturing plants and is present in 21 countries, where it partners closely with customers.